Known types of internal combustion piston engines consume large quantities of energy for a low power output. This is mainly due to the fact that the connecting rod-crankshaft system is at outer dead center when combustion of the gases takes place. As the crankshaft is mounted at an angle of 180.degree. when it receives the maximum thrust from its piston, it can only utilize part of the thrust, because of the inertia of its flywheel. This construction accounts for the low power obtained in proportion to the energy consumed.
French Pat. No. 923,811 issued to Ramaut teaches a partial solution to this basic problem. Remaut teaches in an internal combustion engine the use of a cylinder, first and second pistons reciprocally movable in the cylinder in opposite directions, inlet and outlet valves for controlling the flow of gaseous fuel into the cylinder, and the exhaust of the burnt fuel therefrom, respectively, and linkage means connected to the pistons for converting the reciprocable movement thereof into a rotary movement, the linkage means including change-of-rate-of-displacement means for speeding up the maximum acceleration range, and slowing down the maximum velocity range of one piston with respect to the other piston, as does applicant. But Ramaut's linkage means, as best seen from Ramaut's FIG. 1, include change-of-rate-of-displacement means which are very complicated, and include cam means, and cam-follower means, which need precise alignment; the operation of Ramaut's engine may be severely disturbed, if the alignment of the cam and cam follower is not kept up to the precision required by Ramaut. The use of eccentric gear mechanisms has been suggested by Grodzinski in British Pat. No. 561,067, but in a way different from the mechanism employed in the present invention; Grodzinski multiplies the number of eccentric gears in the mechanism, and by using only small individual eccentricities, no great variations in the actual center distances of the gears is caused, and therefore no excessive backlash is present. Vickers, in Belgian Pat. No. 674,598 also teaches of pistons moving in opposite directions in a cylinder, but does not use change-of-rate-of-displacement means according to the present invention. Timsons, British Pat. No. 662,056 teaches gearing for conveying rotary motion including a pair of non-meshing gears spaced apart in a common plane, a pair of intermeshing gears each of which is arranged in mesh with one of the pair of spaced non-meshing gears so that the latter will rotate in opposite directions, links of the same length directly connecting central pivots on the spaced non-meshing gears with central pivots on the intermeshing gears, and a further link connecting the last-mentioned pivots, the three links together providing an open-sided link frame, and this frame and the axes of the spaced non-meshing gears being relatively movable so as to effect relative circumferential motion of the latter. Timsons, although teaching improvements in gearing arrangements designed to enable relative circumferential motion of desired gears in a group to be varied without interruption, does not implement the change-of-rate of displacement means in a manner disclosed in the present invention. Stieve, German laid-open specification No. 2,260,374, teaches a gear train applicable to internal combustion engines using an eccentrically mounted drive gear to drive another eccentrically mounted gear connected to a piston rod, which in turn is reciprocally movable in a piston. Stieve's mechanism is also different from that of the present invention, and not applicable thereto. Other double piston internal combustion engines are taught by Abraham, U.S. Pat. No. 2,896,596, and Lacy, U.S. Pat. No. 2,311,311, but do not come close to the present invention.